[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rise_of_the_guardians_nightmare_fuel.png]] * Sandman finally being [[spoiler: overpowered by Pitch after a ferocious battle where the two are pretty evenly-matched. Just the look on his face as he's watching himself become consumed by the black sand, and ''no one can help him.'']] Also doubles as a TearJerker towards the end.-->'''Pitch:''' [[PreMortemOneLiner I'd say "sweet dreams", but there aren't any left.]]** Jack trying desperately to come help him, flying as fast as he possibly can, makes it all the worse. He originally didn't even want to be part of this, and now...* There's a shot towards the end of the climax in which Pitch's Nightmare sand has formed into a giant wave that is coming from every side, moving towards the heroes and the town like a flood.* Pitch's lair could be considered NightmareFuel in an atmospheric sense. Located in a hole in the ground, it is a drab, dull and colorless environment that is absolutely joyless compared to all the other environments in the film. [[ParanoiaFuel And Pitch could be lurking in any shadow...]] * The entire scene in Pitch's lair counts as Nightmare Fuel in and of itself. * Sure, it may have ended in a bit of a {{Narm}} moment since Jack interrupted him with a snowball, but Pitch's SlasherSmile when he's asking Jamie if he believes in the Boogieman is ''really'' creepy.** Later, Pitch does it again when he dissolves into shadows and rises up behind Jack about to strike him down with his scythe with that same expression still on his face.*** Pitch does a lot of Slasher Smiles throughout the film - it almost gets progressively creepier as he gets stronger.* At one point towards the end of the movie, Pitch says "There are other ways to snuff out a light." Bear in mind, the light he is referring to is a little boy who he has cornered in an alleyway with the depowered Guardians who can do little to stop him.* You thought Pitch in the film was scary? HAH! Look at some [[http://rufftoon.tumblr.com/post/41565341085/animationtidbits-rise-of-the-guardians-shane#notes early concept art of him.]]* [[spoiler: How about the way Jack died saving his sister? Whilst some state that drowning is a peaceful way to die, the reality of what it does to your body is very brutal and likely to be excruciatingly painful - the amount of intense and damaging pressure applied to the lungs and head in order to hold your breath to stay alive, your lungs soon filled to burst with water against your will, you're panicking for air and even worse, if you're in a frozen lake like Jack was, your body becomes so instantly numb that you can't even move or struggle. Your body just begins to slowly shut down, and there's no hope for you. Now think about how this is what the playful, pure, warm, harmless young man that is Jack endured before he became a Guardian.]] ** Leading on from this, Jack's poor younger sister most likely had all of that childlike innocence ripped out from her the second this happened. [[spoiler:After watching her own brother die,]] what would she have done? Would she have run screaming her little heart out back to find someone to help? Considering that she's likely not much older than Jamie, think about the impact this would have had on her. What kind of life would she have lived afterwards?* It's not nightmare, but it heads in the same direction when you see what happens to the Guardians as they return to their mortal forms more and more. Bunnymund turns into a normal bunny, Tooth Fairy's wings moult and fail, and you can actively see her trying and failing to fly, and Santa is the worst of all, as he is no longer strong and powerful, but a tired old man. You can almost hear those bones creak.* Just before North launches into his speech about the center and wonder, the door locks behind Frost and North simply ''towers'' over Jack for a moment. Amongst all his laughing and jokes, it's surprisingly easy to forget that North can be a very terrifying man when he wants to be.